KCRFC 1st XV v Bridgnorth – Sunday 10th May

KC’s 13 Bridgnorth 18

Kidderminster Carolians were massive underdogs coming into the Final of the North Mids Shield played at Dudley Kingswinford RFC against a Bridgnorth side who had won the trophy for the past two seasons,had run away with Mids 2 West (N) winning all twenty two league fixtures and already had the RFU Midlands Intermediate Cup in the bag.Their one defeat in the 2014-15 season had been suffered the previous week-end at Twickenham against Maidstone in the National Final and the only imponderable was whether they would have a hangover from that reverse or,having had their preparations disrupted by scheduled opposition pulling out of practise games designed to maintain match fitness in the month following the end of the league campaign,would KC’s be on the wrong end of a Bridgnorth backlash?
In the event,neither outcome materialised although ominously for Kidder they fell behind after only four minutes when Bridgnorth went right from a scrum on KC’s ten metre line before switching left with men to spare and their tighthead prop Ed John,who was still loitering on the wing,went over at the corner.However,if the Shropshire side thought the floodgates were about to open they were in for a shock.Even though KC’s re-start went straight into touch and despite having to spend most of the opening exchanges in their own half they began to contain Bridgnorth quite comfortably and with twenty minutes on the clock they established field position for the first time deep in North’s 22. A Bridgnorth penalty enabled them to clear to touch but when they tried to run the lineout possession they were penalised themselves in midfield and scrumhalf Chris Pinner knocked over the kick from just short of the ten metre line to reduce the arrears to 5-3.
Kidder then enjoyed a decent spell of possession in Bridgnorth territory and when they were awarded a five metre scrum they brought on Layton Wilkinson to fill in at No 8.The veteran made an immediate impact with a couple of drives to inch KC’s forwards closer to the whitewash and Pinner then worked the blindside to feed second row Jack Tunstall who plunged over to put the unfancied side ahead 8-5 with thirty minutes played.Unfortunately,Kidder dropped the re-start and conceded a free kick at the resulting scrum to gift possession back to Bridgnorth who quickly created space out left for centre Warren Harding to go over and put them back in front 10-8.KC’s re-start again wastefully went directly into touch and four minutes before the interval a stray pass in the backs was seized upon by North’s No 11 Mike Preece who went over half the length of the pitch and although he was caught by Josh Winfield he managed to shake him off and score a third try to establish a 15-8 halftime lead.
Kidder began the second period with a strong run down the left by centre George Morgan and after three minutes,following a KC’s scrum and some fine work by Tunstall,they moved the ball right.The final pass to Winfield was not a good one,bobbling along the ground towards him and he was forced to stop to pick up the ball but from a standing start the young winger stepped two Bridgnorth defenders to beat them on the outside and he scorched over for an eye catching try which closed the gap to just two points at 15-13.
KC’s yet again needlessly put themselves under pressure by knocking on the re-start and,stung by the early score,Bridgnorth launched a wave of attacks but although Kidder were under the cosh for the next fifteen minutes they kept putting in the tackles and North could find no way through.KC’s then enjoyed a good little spell themselves until a knock on halted their momentum but Bridgnorth at last found a bit of room and winger Will Biddell looked certain to score before a superb ankle tap by fullback Jordan Hatch brought him down.North were,however,able to keep the ball alive and when flyhalf Rhys Pritchard was yellow carded in front of the posts for handling on the floor Biddell took the three points.
Kidder had to do a lot of defending in the last quarter but did so magnificently and even when down to fourteen men they had their moments.The only real chance to add to the scoreboard fell to Biddell with a long range penalty attempt right on the final whistle.It never threatened the posts but Bridgnorth had done enough,just,to clinch a hat-trick of wins in the competition.
Kidderminster,for their part,came out of the game with huge credit.To lose by three tries and a penalty to two tries and a penalty against such strong opposition was a terrific effort.They came very close to upsetting the odds and but for some unforced errors,particularly at the re-starts,and one loose pass they might have done so,